Superhero in Training
by sycoandcrazy.inc
Summary: Detective Files AU. Follows Labor Day. Kuwabara starts his training under Batman to become the Blue Falcon.


Training Day One

_Ow,_ Kuwabara thought when he hit the ground, again. For his first day, well, night of training, Batman had said he wanted to spar with Kuwabara so he could get an idea of what level he was on with his fighting. Kuwabara was starting to realize that he had sorely underestimated Batman's abilities.

Of course, Kuwabara had never really seen Batman fight before. When they'd fought the people Poison Ivy had turned into tree creatures, he'd been kind of busy so he wasn't able to observe Batman fight. And then the fight with Rando had been so short, Batman hadn't really been involved in it.

So, even though Kuwabara technically knew that Batman was really good at what he did, he was still only a normal human, and Kuwabara had just sort of assumed that his superior strength and speed would give him an edge. He really needed to stop assuming things.

_There is no way Batman is a normal human,_ Kuwabara thought, wincing as he pushed himself back to his feet. His bruises were going to have bruises after this sparring match. Not that he hadn't had worse of course. Sometimes he'd been hurt worse after a spar with Yusuke. Batman was very obviously holding back so that Kuwabara wouldn't be injured too badly.

Kuwabara wasn't sure what smarted more; the fact that Batman could put him on the ground so easily, or the fact that he was apparently going easy on Kuwabara.

"Enough," Batman said. "I think I have an idea of where you're at now." It was impossible to tell from his tone of voice what he thought about where Kuwabara was at. "Demonstrate your spiritual abilities now."

Kuwabara held out a hand and willed his Spirit Sword into existence. With a flash of light and a low hum, the sword flared to life. It was kind of funny in a way. When he'd first discovered his Spirit Sword, it had taken massive effort and concentration to summon it. Now, summoning the sword was as simple as taking a breath.

"That is so cool!" Robin said from where he'd been standing on the sidelines observing Kuwabara's training. "It's like you have your own lightsaber!"

Kuwabara blinked. "Lightsaber?"

Robin's jaw dropped. "You've never seen Star Wars?"

"Robin," Batman said in a warning tone. Robin shut up.

Kuwabara continued demonstrating what he could do with his sword. He made it get longer, made it bend and flex, summoned his second sword, shifted it into fly swatter mode, and showed them how he could shoot miniature versions, like a mass of throwing knives. Finally, he summoned his Dimension Sword. Its lines were clearer and sharper, looking more crystalline than his usual Spirit Sword.

"This is the one I use to create portals or cut through dimensions," Kuwabara said.

"Show me," Batman ordered.

Kuwabara had expected the order. Focusing his will, Kuwabara slashed through the air, tearing a rip in space itself. He stepped through, and suddenly he was no longer standing in front of Batman, but easily balancing on top of the giant penny. The rip closed up after him.

"That will be so useful," Robin said from the ground.

Kuwabara jumped off the penny and landed lightly on the ground. "So, that's about it," Kuwabara said. If he was hoping for a reaction from Batman, he was going to be disappointed. The man's face may as well have been carved from stone.

He simply nodded and gestured towards a box that was sitting on a table. "That's yours."

Curious, Kuwabara headed over to the table and opened the box. Laying on top of the contents was a black shirt that had a navy blue silhouette of a falcon on the front, similar to the bat on the chest of Batman's costume.

"Is this my costume?" Kuwabara asked.

"Try it on," Batman said in reply.

Feeling just a little silly, Kuwabara did. The suit was made of a tough, form fitting material. The black shirt was sleeveless, and came with navy blue pants and black boots. There were also navy blue gloves, and a matching navy blue cape with a cowl attached. The cape fell to about his midthigh, and unlike Batman's cowl, Kuwabara's didn't have ears on top. The outfit was completed with the same yellow utility belt that Batman and Robin wore.

There wasn't a mirror in the Batcave, but Kuwabara could see his reflection in the glass of the cases Batman used to store their costumes.

"Whoa," Kuwabara said. The costumed person staring back just didn't look like _him._ He doubted even his friends would recognize him on sight. Of course, all they'd have to do was sense his spirit energy and they'd know, but just seeing him? There was no way they'd realize.

_It's actually kind of cool._

"When you're in costume, you are Blue Falcon," Batman said. "Don't ever respond to or use your real name when you wear the mask."

Kuwabara nodded. "Okay."

It was going to take some time to get used to being called Blue Falcon, but Kuwabara definitely felt up to it.

* * *

Training Day Four

Hiei and Kurama's idea of training had basically consisted of attacking Kuwabara while he scrambled around and tried not to get hit. It had been effective to a point; Kuwabara had certainly gotten faster, and he'd learned how to summon two swords at once thanks to them.

Batman's training was far more methodical. He taught Kuwabara moves, and then had him practice those moves until he was satisfied that Kuwabara could perform the move correctly.

Genkai's idea of motivating her pupil had been to shower them with insults until they got mad enough to succeed in whatever it was they were trying to do.

Batman was never insulting. Not that he was nice either. If Kuwabara did something wrong, Batman informed him in no uncertain terms that he was wrong. He never really complimented Kuwabara for doing well either. It was like Kuwabara doing well in his training was simply what Batman expected to happen, so Kuwabara meeting his expectations was nothing that needed to be remarked upon. Meeting his expectations was simply normal.

Someone expecting Kuwabara to do well was…nice.

* * *

Training Day Nine

Kuwabara had expected to be taught how to fight as Batman's apprentice. He hadn't expected to learn all the other tricks of Batman's trade. The other side of Batman's work was also much harder to Kuwabara. Learning how to notice things that other people overlooked, to catch hidden meanings in what people said, to be able to tell when someone was or wasn't lying, how to effectively interrogate criminals for information, to memorize maps of Gotham City, how to go undercover, how to pick locks and hack computers, how to escape strait jackets, and many more little things Kuwabara had never realized that Batman did.

Kuwabara glared at the simply lock that was quickly becoming the bane of his existence. "This is stupid! I can just cut the lock off with my sword!" he complained.

"That would set off alarms and defeat the whole purpose of sneaking," said Robin. Batman was on patrol tonight, so Robin was overseeing his training. "So, unless you can make a key with your spirit energy, you've got to learn how to do this."

Kuwabara stared at him. Why couldn't he make a key? He could manipulate the shape and size of his sword, after all. "Maybe I can," Kuwabara said.

He placed a finger over the keyhole and concentrated. _Careful,_ he thought. It would take only a tiny amount of spirit energy to fill the keyhole. He let his spirit energy trickle in and he could feel it fitting into the gears of the lock.

_I've got it!_

And then the lock exploded.

"Nice," Robin said. "Maybe you should stick with regular lock picks?"

"Shut up," Kuwabara grumbled.

* * *

Training Day Fifteen

Kuwabara's favorite part of training? The _toys._ Batarangs, gas pellets, grapple guns, and tons of other little surprises hidden away in the utility belts they wore, and Kuwabara got to use them all.

But tonight, he was going to play with the coolest toy of all.

Kuwabara knew he was grinning like an idiot, but he couldn't help it. "You mean it? I get to learn how to drive the batcycle?"

Robin grinned as he tossed Kuwabara a helmet. "Put it on, Blue Falcon. We're going for a ride."

"Sweet!"

* * *

Training Day Twenty-Three

"Tonight we're going on patrol," Batman said.

Excitement rippled through Kuwabara. Tonight he was going to start putting the things he was learning into practice.

Robin took the batcycle while Kuwabara joined Batman in the batmobile. Kuwabara hadn't learned how to drive the batmobile yet, but he doubted anyone else was allowed to drive it if Batman was in the vehicle anyway.

Kuwabara eyed all the different buttons on the dash. He knew better than to touch any of them, but he was curious. "What do the controls do?" he asked.

Batman explained in clipped tones without taking his gaze off the road. Batman's explanations were always thorough, but he didn't like to repeat himself, so Kuwabara did his best to commit all the information to memory the first time.

They parked in an alleyway, and the roof rolled back so they could get out. Without speaking, Batman used his grapple gun to pull himself up to the roof of one of the buildings. Kuwabara quickly followed suit. When they got to the top they found Robin waiting for them. Kuwabara wasn't sure where he'd come from, since he hadn't parked in the same alleyway.

The patrol started off in silence, as they made their way from building to building, working their way further up until they were on top of a skyscraper.

"Wow," Kuwabara said, looking down at Gotham City spread below his feet. Cars drove along the streets, looking like so many toys, and off in the distance Kuwabara could see the ocean where it flowed into Gotham Harbor.

"Pretty impressive, isn't it?" Robin said.

"It's amazing," Kuwabara replied.

"We'll head to the harbor tonight," Batman said. Without another word, he shot off his grapple gun and swung off the roof.

"You going to be okay, Blue Falcon?" Robin asked.

Kuwabara eyed the street below. He'd jumped off some high things before, but never a skyscraper. He looked back at Robin and grinned. "This is going to be awesome."

Robin returned his grin. "That's the spirit!"

Kuwabara shot off his grapple gun, felt the grapple catch. Then he stepped off the building. It was everything he could do not to shout for joy as he swung over the heads of the unknowing citizens of Gotham.

They made it to the harbor without seeing any crimes. It was starting to seem like it was going to be a quiet night in Gotham City.

Then, of course, there was a scream.

The source of the scream was a woman who'd just had her purse snatched by a thief.

"Handle it," Batman said, and Kuwabara realized that this was a test.

"Right," Kuwabara said, jumping down from the roof of the warehouse they were on, landing neatly in front of the purse thief who fell back from Kuwabara in surprise.

"Sorry," Kuwabara said, "but I don't think the purse goes with your outfit. Maybe you should return it to the lady."

The thief pulled out a gun and pointed it at him, but before he could get a shot off Kuwabara ducked down and kicked his legs out from under him. The purse thief landed on his back with a heavy thud, and the gun and purse went flying through the air. Kuwabara caught both and with a flick of his wrist he threw the gun into the harbor.

The thief rolled to his feet and started to dash off, but Kuwabara was having none of that. He threw a bolas at the man, and it tangled up around his feet bringing him back to the ground. This time he hit his head and the fall left him unconscious.

Kuwabara returned the purse to the stunned woman who was still standing nearby. "Thank you," she said automatically when he handed it to her. "Who _are_ you?"

Kuwabara grinned cheerfully at her. "I'm the Blue Falcon. Have a safe night, ma'am."

Using the grapple gun, he returned to the roof where Batman and Robin were still waiting for him. Batman looked at him and nodded.

"Not bad."

Kuwabara's grin stretched even wider. That was the nicest thing Batman had ever said to him.

* * *

Bonus Scene

The day after Kuwabara's first night of training with Batman, he found himself cornered in his dorm room by Dick and Joe, the RA.

"Kaz," Joe said, "it has occurred to us that since you're from Japan, you might not know some of America's best movies and music and stuff. Dick and I have decided to take it upon ourselves to educate you."

"Okay," Kuwabara said, a little wary of Joe's enthusiasm.

Dick tossed an arm around Kuwabara's shoulders. "For the movies, we're going to start with Star Wars, because everyone should see those movies before they die. Then we're going to move on to the Duke and Zorro."

"And as for music," Joe said, "I bet you'd be a Beach Boys fan. Don't you think he'd like the Beach Boys, Dick?"

"Who doesn't like the Beach Boys?" Dick asked.

"Sounds like fun," Kuwabara said.

After watching Star Wars Episode IV, all Kuwabara could think of was Robin's words. _I have a lightsaber! I wonder if I can make my Spirit Sword blue?_


End file.
